With Zack Snyder confirmed to direct Superman, questions about the film have turned to other topics: who will star, and what will the film be about? The second question has a vague answer now, as Mr. Snyder has said that the film is not a remake or based on any particular comic, and will feature the character’s early days.

The director talked to the French site Films Actu, and a translation of the printed comments says:

As I have already explained, the film will focus on early days of Superman, so there will be no links with other films. This is not a remake then. Similarly, although I still can not talk about the script, I can assure you that this new Superman will not be based on a comic book in particular.

So does this mean (groan) we’re in for another telling of the origin, or is the idea more to take the same path that Sony is taking with Spider-Man and cast a bit younger, to hopefully pull in a young audience? And by early days is this Smallville-type stuff, or looking into the character’s first years in Metropolis?

We don’t know, but there have been comments from the director that an appearance by Superman II villain General Zod is just a rumor.

And with respect to the last man to play Superman, Brandon Routh, Zack Snyder said that the actor was unlikely to return. But when AICN talked to the actor a few months back he said he’d been contacted by Legendary and was starting to train again. This is before Mr. Snyder was tapped to direct, so it’s possible that things have changed, but at that point the actor seemed to want the role. (Surprise.) If the idea is to go with a younger version of the character, however, a recast will almost certainly take place. So why hasn’t the inevitable “Zack Snyder and Warner Bros. wants…” shortlist been leaked yet?